Fownhope’s Heart of Oak Society traces its roots to the age of friendly societies, when communities provided their own safety net. Its anniversary celebrations reveal a tradition still very much alive, says MARK SEDDON
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What can a Marxist approach tell us about racism?
Socialists have a uniquely developed understanding of the real causes of racial oppression and solutions that go beyond empty corporate 'inclusiveness,' writes the Marx Memorial Library
ANGUS REID explains the significance of Cuba’s egalitarian in letter and spirit Family Code and the pertinent lessons it holds for democracies anywhere in the world
Special report by PEOPLE’S WORLD
NICK WRIGHT considers how the isolation of Israel and a new film on the controversial Italian communist leader are creating new reference points for Italy’s left
CARLOS MARTINEZ says Cuba’s achievements in the face of a criminal blockade are startling, but the island’s future if the United States succeeds in crushing it looks bleak
AMNON BROWNFIELD STEIN reports that far-right MPs who mobbed the event organised by Hadash may have helped raise awareness of the brutality of the Israeli right
RACISM is the belief in the inferiority of one or more groups of humans based on their supposed “race” or ethnicity; it manifests itself in prejudice in thought and language and, often, in discrimination.
Racism needs to be distinguished from xenophobia — a more generalised fear or dislike of those perceived to be “foreign” or “strange” — although the two often go together.
The United Nations convention on racial discrimination states that any form of superiority based on racial differentiation is scientifically false, morally condemnable, socially unjust and dangerous, and there is no justification for discrimination, anywhere, in theory or in practice. Most normal people would agree with that.
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The concept of ‘race’ is fraught with problems. The MARX MEMORIAL LIBRARY explores some of the difficulties